Asparagus 



27. 



The crop. 



The plants should grow two full years from planting in 

 the field before shoots are cut closely, but a small cutting 

 is often permissible the second year if the plantation is 

 vigorous. It is also easy to injure the bed by cutting it 

 too long a period each season. Whilst the crop is being 

 harvested, however, every stalk should be removed, even 

 though it is too small and poor for eating : the bed should 

 be " cut clean/' Only in rare cases 

 should the bed be cut after the 4th 

 of July in the Northern States, and 

 it is usually better to stop before this 

 time. The third season the cutting is 

 for a month or less ; subsequently it 

 may run to six or even ten weeks. 

 Thereafter the tops are allowed to 

 grow as they will. 



It is customary to harvest aspara- 

 gus by severing the shoots 3 or 4 

 inches beneath the surface by means 

 of a long knife (Fig. 1, adapted from 

 Farmers' Bull. 829). There are spe- 

 cial asparagus knives (Fig. 2), but 

 any long butcher-knife will answer 

 the purpose. It is important that 

 this knife be inserted in an 

 oblique direction so as not to in- 

 jure the new shoots that are ris- 

 ing from the crown. A little experience in the use of the 

 knife will enable one to cut the shoots without injury to 

 the succeeding growths. At the height of the season it 



A bunch of asparagus. 



